| Authors | G A Sheikhzadeh and M A Mehrabian |
|---|---|
| Journal | International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat and Fluid Flow |
| Presented by | Shahid Bahonar Universiy of Kerman |
| Page number | 638-653 |
| Serial number | 6 |
| Volume number | 17 |
| Paper Type | Full Paper |
| Published At | August 2007 |
| Journal Grade | ISI |
| Journal Type | Typographic |
| Journal Country | United Kingdom |
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to apply the numerical methods to study the heap leaching process in a bed of porous and spherical ore particles. This study is performed in two stages: first, modeling the leaching process of a soluble mineral from a spherical and porous ore particle to obtain the distribution of mineral concentrations, leaching solvent concentration and dissolved mineral in the particles (the particle model), and second, modeling the heap leaching of the mineral from a porous bed consisting of spherical and porous ore particles to obtain the distribution of mineral concentrations, leaching solvent concentration and dissolved mineral in the bed (the bed model). Design/methodology/approach – The governing equations are derived for the particle model, and then converted into non-dimensional form using reference quantities. The non-dimensional equations are discretised on a uniform spherical grid fitted to the particle using finite difference method. The resulting algebraic equations are solved using Tri-Diagonal Matrix Algorithm, and the governing equations are derived for the bed model, and then converted into non-dimensional form using reference quantities. The non-dimensional equations are discretised explicitly on a one-dimensional and uniform grid fitted to the bed. The unknown quantities are evaluated using the corresponding values at the previous time interval. Findings – The results obtained from numerical modeling show that, when the particle has a low diffusion resistance or a high chemical resistance, the reaction takes place slowly and homogeneously throughout the ore particle. On the other hand, when the bed has a low convection resistance, the reaction takes place homogeneously througho